Report - Round 10 - 2005 Ferrari Hillclimb Championship - Club Racing Series'

Sunday morning dawned hot and dry, and a large entry of 16 owners gave notice to the promise of a fantastic day's sport. 15 Ferraris lined up in the paddock and, shining fabulously in the August sunshine, they made a wonderful sight, drawing the attention of the crowds who had come to watch the day's sprinting.

2005 saw the return of the two-lapper at Curborough, last seen in 1997, this caused high entertainment and proved to be a little tricky for most competitors. The Hitchmans' were on home turf and would not be drawn on the scurrilous allegations of secret testing one afternoon earlier in the week. Not that it did Chris Hitchman much good, as he left his F355 in the garage without reconnecting the trickle charger and as a result the car was as dead as a dodo on Sunday morning, so he had to resort to sharing his wife’s car (again!). Peter H had experienced major electrical problems, with his Mondial 3.4t taking up almost permanent residence at Shiltech's garage over a period of a few weeks but, true to form, they got it going in the nick of time for Curborough.

We welcomed David Tomlin as a Curborough virgin in his F355. David had been around the block at the Curborough School, but as he only got to practice single laps it was still a fairly new experience. We were delighted at the return of John Dobson from the wine groves of Italy, and also at the late entry of Richard Allen, who had been so busy organising the event that he had forgotten to enter it himself. The organisers took pity on him and squeezed him in at the last minute – well it would not be the same without our Richard would it!

Mr Rogerson arrived to the meeting at the 11th hour having had a gambit of problems with his F355GTS whilst driving down the M1 – so much so that he actually turned the car around and started home; The saving grace came when he stopped at a service station for the call of nature (body calling caffeine) and the action of switching the engine off and on again reset the car which then ran like a dream. He didn't know a hard re-boot worked on a Ferrari, but there are computers in there. Not surprisingly Peter R arrived at the meeting a little het up, exacerbated by the fact that it wasn’t until he got to the starting line on his first practice run that he realised that he had to do a two-lapper!

The day got off to a bit of a slow start, scrutineering was VERY thorough although thankfully nobody got caught out by the request for MOT and Insurance documents. The officials were also very generous in offering to capture split times and print outs for the Ferrari owners, which they did not do for any of the other clubs. Ms S Bateman, our lovely scrutineer, was certainly another attraction, Mr Mineeff was overheard to ask what the rules were for asking out a scrutineer and there was much debate over whether this should happen before or after she had inspected his equipment! [It passed, but I can't get the sticker off - Ed.]

P1 got off to a good start, although Mineeff's thoughts must have been on other things as he had a little spin at the first corner; Dobson (328GTB) also took a detour at the molehill and failed to complete P1. He wisely chose Drivers' Excuse No. 5 – Poor Tyre Choice, as he was on ancient Goodyear Eagles. Geoff Dark and Brian Jackson, both in 308 GTBs, both locked on the straight before the turn into lap 2 but still got round in under 70 seconds. Nick Taylor (348GTC) got the fastest run on P1 with a 65.79, but Jon Goodwin (355), Richard Prior (348ts) and Chris Butler (355) were within a nano second behind. P2 saw Jon Goodwin take the lead on the fastest run of the entire day, a stonking 64.33 which he was unfortunately unable to replicate in R1 or R2. The fastest speedster across the line was Chris Butler achieving a leary 96 miles per hour, second fastest was Jon Goodwin at 95mph and third fastest was our man Richard Allen (355) at 94mph. The ladies, Pauline and Lorraine (both in 328s) had an exciting time in practice holding their own with the guys and exceeding some on speed on the over-the-line times at 88 and 87 mph respectively.

R1 saw Chris Butler roar into the lead with a 65.28 closely followed by Nick Taylor on 65.40 and Jon Goodwin on 65.63, although Richards Prior and Allen were hot on their tails with 65.73 and 65.93, Christian Mineeff (328) was only just off the pace with a 66.29. Geoff Dark put in an excellent 67.43 and David Tomlin picked up a very respectable 68.29 although his 355 had started to blow occasional smoke which was a bit worrying. Pauline (71.23) was the fastest lady in R1 just piping Lorraine (71.52).

R2 and all to play for, the temperature had dropped a little and most people went quicker. Nick Taylor finished off on a sizzling 64.95 to win the event, despite horrendous understeer out of the top corner on both laps. Chris Butler tried really hard but was as smooth as ever, he looked very quick round the fast left-right and Mole Hill complex, he too went wide out of the top corner, but did some demon late braking at the end of the first lap. Despite this, he came in second with 65.01, just six-hundredths behind. Ali wasn't there for the drive home, so it was suggested that he save up being moody until he got home as it would make an ideal start for their holiday.

Richard Prior took his 348 by the scruff of the neck and simply hurled it round to take third with a great time of 65.46. He braked very late into the top corner on lap 1 and took kerb cutting to extremes with his inside wheels well up the side of the Mole Hill on lap 2. A puzzled Jon Goodwin encountered the strange Curbrough phenomenon where his second practice run of 64.33 was his best (and the classes') of the day. His R2 time of 65.48 was an improvement over R1, but left him in a disappointed 4th place - it's a long time since Gooders finished off the podium.

Richard Allen managed a very respectable 5th on 65.87, though his first lap was nearly a second slower than the others. If it had been better, he'd have finished right in amongst the leaders, whether this was due to old age or his tyres coming in is not clear - RA himself put it down to not being as mean and hungry as he once was. David Tomlin had a slight lock-up braking for the hairpin at the end of lap 1, but was tight coming out of the top in approved Curborough Tuition Day style. He whopped a massive 2+ seconds of his R1 time, which put him into 6th place with an excellent 66.03. He just pipped Christian Mineeff, who tried everything he knew, but just could not get into the 65s. The fact that it was a two-lapper exacerbated the smaller-engined tipos power deficiencies, but he still finished second on PEPs.

This must have affected Geoff Dark too, who only added one point to his Championship total. Fellow 308 pilota Brian Jackson outbraked himself at the hairpin and spun. Chris Hitchman did not better his first run time. Dad Peter's Mondial t had big oversteer exiting the hairpin but yet again he and Chris finished next to each other in the results! Newly-wed Andy Grier finished next in the family 328, followed by Peter Rogerson, who looked very at home on this two-lapper, despite it being a surprise to him. John Dobson had big oversteer with a near spin going into the hairpin on lap 2 - he finished the job properly going into the Mole Hill. Lorraine Hitchman won the battle of the ladies with her second run time of 71.04 finishing ahead of Pauline Goodwin.

Everyone agreed that Curborough had been an exciting event. It was organised (and very well too) by the Reliant Scimitar and Sabre Owners' Club, and past-Chairman and FOC track instructor Tony Richardson was the commentator for the Ferraris. He did a good job, his mellifluous pilot's voice welcoming us to Curbourough (I looked round for a trolley dolly) and the competitors certainly appreciated the instruction "Cabin doors to manual".

Nick Taylor took his second consecutive win and has shown that he and his 348GTC will be a real threat in the Championship next year once his reigning Champion's +1% PEP has gone. Richard Prior drove brilliantly to get his 348 in amongst the more powerful tipos, take maximum points and extend his Championship lead. The next round is at Gurston Down on September 10th, which replaces the cancelled July meeting.

(Run 2 onwards report by Graham Easter)